I AM



God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. I AM has sent me to you.”

There is a worship song that I just love. I can’t say it’s my favorite because before I could finish typing that ten others would cross my mind as “favorite.” In any case the name of the song is “Great I Am.” The lyrics say just what you would expect from the title that God is indeed the great I AM, holy, powerful, unique, awesome, in the truest sense of the word. I love that song! The bridge includes the truth that the enemy runs from God, that even the mountains tremble in His presence. All true.
Listening to the song just a few minutes ago, hearing the words repeated “the great I AM” something occurred to me. I Am, what? As Christians we don’t ask that question because we know or think we do, what that means. It’s the name of God Yahweh, the great I AM. But indulge me for a moment and think about it. God is the great I AM.  If anyone else said to any of us, “Hello, I am.” There would be a pause as we waited for the rest of the sentence. “You are? Hungry? Lost? Happy?” We might try to fill in the blank from body language of facial expression. Certainly we would expect if not an actual name, at least some elaboration.  “Hello, I am your new boss, worst nightmare, here to help, etc, etc.”  Something has to come after the I am. Not with God.

God is everything. There was nothing before Him and will be nothing after Him. He can say “Hello I AM” because He is!
The song I referred to is huge. I love music and musically speaking it’s a wonderful song. It builds nicely. The lyrics are so good and true with music that matches the mood of the words perfectly and there is so much more. I can’t imagine a person who can hear that song and not be moved. Not just because it is so well written or, as has been my experience in many venues, so well performed. It is because of the simple and yet enormously beyond our total comprehension truth. God is the Great I AM. As the song says, there is none beside Him.

Think about God for a minute using nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives. It’s awe inspiring isn’t it? That is why the song is so effective because it beautifully states the truth that makes this life livable and the next one so inviting. We are reminded that there is nothing we could desire that God can’t give, do or be. The great I AM.

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